Ezekiel 4:16
◄  Ezekiel 4:16  ►
New International Version (©2011)
He then said to me: "Son of man, I am about to cut off the food supply in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair,

New Living Translation (©2007)
Then he told me, "Son of man, I will make food very scarce in Jerusalem. It will be weighed out with great care and eaten fearfully. The water will be rationed out drop by drop, and the people will drink it with dismay.

English Standard Version (©2001)
Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the supply of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water by measure and in dismay.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Moreover, He said to me, "Son of man, behold, I am going to break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and drink water by measure and in horror,

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
Then He said to me, "Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of bread in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight and in dread drink water by measure.

International Standard Version (©2012)
He also told me, "Son of Man, look! I'm about to disrupt the source of bread in Jerusalem. As a result, they'll ration bread by weight while their terror continues to grow and they'll ration drinking water while their horror continues to mount!

NET Bible (©2006)
Then he said to me, "Son of man, I am about to remove the bread supply in Jerusalem. They will eat their bread ration anxiously, and they will drink their water ration in terror

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
He also said to me, "Son of man, I am going to cut off the bread supply in Jerusalem. People will anxiously eat rationed bread and fearfully drink rationed water.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will cut off the supply of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay:

American King James Version
Moreover he said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:

American Standard Version
Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness; and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay:

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he said to me: Son of man: Behold, I will break in pieces the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care: and they shall drink water by measure, and in distress.

Darby Bible Translation
And he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I break the staff of bread in Jerusalem; and they shall eat bread by weight, and with anxiety; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:

English Revised Version
Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with carefulness; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:

Webster's Bible Translation
Moreover he said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment.

World English Bible
Moreover he said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness; and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay:

Young's Literal Translation
And He saith unto me, 'Son of man, lo, I am breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they have eaten bread by weight and with fear; and water by measure and with astonishment, they do drink;

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:9-17 The bread which was Ezekiel's support, was to be made of coarse grain and pulse mixed together, seldom used except in times of urgent scarcity, and of this he was only to take a small quantity. Thus was figured the extremity to which the Jews were to be reduced during the siege and captivity. Ezekiel does not plead, Lord, from my youth I have been brought up delicately, and never used to any thing like this; but that he had been brought up conscientiously, and never had eaten any thing forbidden by the law. It will be comfortable when we are brought to suffer hardships, if our hearts can witness that we have always been careful to keep even from the appearance of evil. See what woful work sin makes, and acknowledge the righteousness of God herein. Their plenty having been abused to luxury and excess, they were justly punished by famine. When men serve not God with cheerfulness in the abundance of all things, God will make them serve their enemies in the want of all things.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - The staff of bread. The phrase occurs again in Ezekiel 5:16; Ezekiel 14:13, and also in Leviticus 26:26; Psalm 105:16. In Isaiah 3:1 the thought is the same, but the Hebrew word is different. They shall eat bread by weight, etc. The phrase occurs, it may be noted, in Leviticus 26:26, one of the verses above referred to. The care and astonishment, implying that the wonted cheerfulness of meals would have departed, meet us again in Ezekiel 12:19.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Moreover he said unto me, son of man,.... What follows opens the design, and shows what was intended by the symbol of the miscellany bread, baked with cow dung, the prophet was to eat by measure, as, well as drink water by measure: namely, the sore famine that should be in Jerusalem at the time of the siege:

behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: that is, take away bread, which is the staff of life, the support of it, and which strengthens man's heart; and also the nourishing virtue and efficacy from what they had. The sense is, that the Lord would both deprive them of a sufficiency of bread, the nourishment of man; and not suffer the little they had to be nourishing to them; what they ate would not satisfy them, nor do them much good; see Leviticus 26:26;

and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; that they might not eat too much at a time, but have something for tomorrow; and to cause their little stock to last the longer, not knowing how long the siege would be:

and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment; that such a judgment should fall upon them, who thought themselves the people of God, and the favourites of heaven.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. staff of bread—bread by which life is supported, as a man's weight is by the staff he leans on (Le 26:26; Ps 105:16; Isa 3:1).

by weight, and with care—in scant measure (Eze 4:10).

Ezekiel 4:16 Parallel Commentaries

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The Defiled Bread
…15Then he said to me, See, I have given you cow's dung for man's dung, and you shall prepare your bread therewith. 16Moreover he said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment: 17That they may want bread and water, and be astonished one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.

Revelation 6:5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand.
Leviticus 26:26 When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.
Psalm 105:16 He called down famine on the land and destroyed all their supplies of food;
Isaiah 3:1 See now, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, is about to take from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: all supplies of food and all supplies of water,
Jeremiah 52:6 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat.
Lamentations 5:4 We must buy the water we drink; our wood can be had only at a price.
Ezekiel 4:10 Weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day and eat it at set times.
Ezekiel 4:11 Also measure out a sixth of a hin of water and drink it at set times.
Ezekiel 4:15 "Very well," he said, "I will let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human excrement."
Ezekiel 5:16 When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon you and cut off your supply of food.
Ezekiel 12:18 "Son of man, tremble as you eat your food, and shudder in fear as you drink your water.
Ezekiel 12:19 Say to the people of the land: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says about those living in Jerusalem and in the land of Israel: They will eat their food in anxiety and drink their water in despair, for their land will be stripped of everything in it because of the violence of all who live there.